Realizations
by Ravenietta
Summary: Right now, they're on the tip of the iceberg. One-shot/drabble series. Starts on Chapter 2: Wally never expected he'd get the girl so easily. Dick never expected that the girl would be M'gann. SPITFIRE, TRUST ME.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice._

_Dear Sexy Ascot,_

_Sorry this is horrendously late, but here it is. _

_Love, Retta_

^S^

"God _dammit!_"

"Hold still, stupid."

"We had him! We were _this close_, Rob! This close!"

"Shut up before you fall off the table."

"You don't seem to be grasping the...the injustice of the situation!" Wally, who at first had only been simmering with anger, finally exploded at Dick's light dismissal of his rage.

Dick raised an eyebrow and continued his work, wrapping the bandage tighter around Wally's arm. "What's there to grasp? You getting all into a tizzy—_again_—for no apparent reason? Jesus, Wally, it wasn't _that _big of a deal."

Wally turned a disbelieving eye on Dick. "_Tizzy? _Really? You're going to get beat up for using words like that—ow! Don't _mutilate _my arm, man!"

Robin snorted and tugged the last knot into place. Turning away, he strode across the dark infirmary, footsteps noiseless even though his right foot was dragging. Wally rubbed his arm, freshly stinging with burns, and winced; last night's mission had been such a failure, heavy on the epic.

They hadn't expected Kobra to step up his game _that _much, but when they got to the private facility housing his various weapons, minions, and the usual villain paraphernalia, they were…overwhelmed, as Dick would say. _Of course _the place was in the middle of hot, rugged jungle—why would the bad guy's lair ever be somewhere easy to get to?—and _of course _the security had been updated to a cutthroat level, including all of Wally's personal favorites: lasers, guard dogs, lasers, excessive amounts of dumb lackeys, and above all, _lasers. _Even with a goal as relatively simple as gathering intel, it was difficult to remain undetected. Which they didn't, because Superboy decided to have one of his little mood swings _right in the middle of the freaking mission, like usual. _They barely escaped with their heads still attached; as it was, Wally had burns stretching up his left arm and a black eye, Dick had a swollen and likely sprained ankle, Aqualad had gashes crisscrossing his chest, and Artemis had dislocated her shoulder.

Needless to say, Batman was not pleased with the results. He had given them the usual monotone lecture on their various flaws in performance, which Kid Flash could recite by heart (he'd been patrolling with the Bats before), and a list of what extra training they could expect from Black Canary in order to better prepare them for the next mission. Wally tried to look as ashamed of his "impulsive and thoughtless actions" as he could, but when Batman disappeared in the white glow of the zeta-tube, he let himself breathe more freely. And now here he was, nursing an injured arm shortly before dawn and sorely wishing he was in bed. Thank God for Saturday mornings and sleeping in and the homemade waffles he was sure his mother would be making in a couple of hours. Now, to get home…

Dick returned the roll of gauze to the cabinet across the room. Wally felt sympathetic for his best friend; he knew Dick would likely get about two hours of sleep and then somehow feel compelled to get up and train.

"Dude, you should get that looked at," Wally said, gesturing at the other boy's ankle. "It looks pretty terrible from here."

Dick shrugged as he walked over to the entrance of the infirmary. "I'll look at it when I get to the Batcave."

"Not gonna crash here? It's kind of a late night, it would probably be easier."

"Nah, can't tonight. Too much to do tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, me too." _Like eating waffles. _

Dick flashed him a smirk. "Oh really, like what? Eating?"

"_No! _I have other stuff to do—chem homework, chores. Waffles happen to be a side bonus."

Both boys exited the infirmary. Walking down the long corridor to the open area where the zeta-tubes were stationed, they chatted about the usual stuff, dancing between different topics: apocalyptic circumstances and what weapons were best in taking down zombies/vampires/werewolves, Wally's ineffective flirting techniques, video game cheat codes, a kick-ass move Dick refused to teach Wally (" _C'mon, _Rob!" "You'll only end up killing yourself or others. I'm doing a service for the whole world, really."), and _Legend of Korra, _which was like the best cartoon ever.

Wally and Dick were almost to the end of the hallway, debating whether or not Makorra would survive the latest episode, when an explosive voice rang through the mountain. Dick flinched and Wally raised his hands to his ears, startled.

"Survey says it's Supes in a tantrum," Dick whispered and elbowed Wally. Wally inwardly agreed.

And he was correct. As they peered—totally ninja-like—from around the corner, both Wally and Dick could see Conner in a full-fledged fit, waving his fists angrily. It was directed towards M'gann, the only other occupant of the room, who appeared to be timidly taking it. But as they watched, she steeled herself and began to try to interrupt Conner's rant. It was here they picked up on the conversation; it wasn't like it was _that _hard to hear.

"I was just worried about you," M'gann spoke up, anguish shining in her big brown eyes. Conner seemed to soften a little, but still drew himself up to make his point.

"You _shouldn't _be worried about me!" he replied with a kind of teeth-gritting frustration. "I'm a clone of _Superman; _I'm invulnerable. You shouldn't have left yourself open to enemy fire."

"They might have had kryptonite!" M'gann cried defensively. "I couldn't let them—"

"You couldn't let them what?" Conner sneered. "Kill me? It wouldn't have happened. I'm some kind of sick science project to them, I know that well enough."

"But—"

Conner looked away from her pitiful gaze and said stonily, "I think we need to take a break."

M'gann said nothing. She stood there, an emotional volcano on the verge of a meltdown, and did nothing but stare at Conner with agony. Without another word, she pulled up her hood and quickly flew away.

Conner stood in the middle of the mess he'd created, seemingly stewing in his own mental turmoil. Wally personally couldn't say he felt sorry for him. He had broken M'gann's heart, for Christ's sake. This was a sin that couldn't be taken with a grain of salt. But out of brotherly friendship with Conner, Wally decided to intervene.

Wally popped into the large chamber like he'd never been eavesdropping outside it and strolled up to Conner. He could feel Dick questioning his motives behind him, his feelings projecting after Wally in a silent inquiry. He himself was still asking precisely what the hell he was doing, but Wally couldn't see any backing out of this now. It was time to take one for the team.

"Sooo..." Wally started, trying to appear nonchalant but also vaguely interested. "What was the fuss I could hear all the way down the hall?"

Conner grunted and looked at him, but Wally was convinced he was really staring through him.

Wally moved closer, hoping this conversation wouldn't lead to him missing any appendages. "You don't say? Any details like, I don't know, _words?"_

Conner finally seemed to notice him. "It wasn't a big deal," he muttered sourly, turning away from Wally and towards a tunnel going the opposite way M'gann had fled.

Wally felt a pang of annoyance. Sure, go ahead and ignore him. That was perfectly okay with him. _Not. _He shuffled over to stand in front of Conner. "It didn't sound like it wasn't a big deal," he said kindly. "Do you need, like, advice or something?"

Conner scoffed and ducked around Wally, striding angrily down the hall he'd been staring at. This time Wally let him go. When he could no longer hear Conner's footfalls, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. Nope, he could _not _drudge up any more effort to help Supey if he didn't want it. It was _way _too early to deal with this crap.

Dick, in that magical stealthy way he possessed, appeared next to Wally as they both walked, or in Dick's case, limped over to the zeta-tubes.

"What was that all about?" he asked, curiously looking over Wally's expression of tired dejection.

"Heck if I know," Wally answered, and let the zeta-tube's flash of white light engulf him. It was time for some good ol' sleep.

^S^

Unfortunately for Wally, his morning plans were interrupted by a call from the Cave, or more accurately, Robin.

His cell phone buzzed on the nightstand beside him. Wally shot up from his mound of blankets, flailing in temporary distress. When he realized it was only his stupid phone, he groaned but reluctantly picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, dude, where are you?" Dick's voice was urgent, but not urgent enough for Wally to leap out of bed in alarm.

"Where am I supposed to be?" he said, with irritation he hoped he made clear. Sitting up fully, he got to his feet and trudged over to his window. Pushing the curtains aside, he almost swore. It could not have been more than an hour since he'd gotten home. Rosy light bathed his room, warm and promising of a new day, but this wasn't reassuring in the least. He suddenly had the feeling that he would not be consuming those delicious waffles as he'd hoped.

Dick replied with a tinge of confusion that asked Wally sarcastically how he could _not _know where he was supposed to be. "Well, maybe at the Cave, where Batman asked us to show up for extra training."

"_Dude! _At—" he glanced at his clock, "_six in the morning? _We just got back from getting our asses kicked by Kobra! Can't we wait until Sunday morning or something?"

"Seriously, just get over here. We're all waiting for you and I think I might fall asleep if I don't do something soon."

"Fine," Wally snapped. "Give me three minutes." With that, he flipped his phone shut and yawned.

Within half a minute, he was dressed in his civvies, hair decently combed, with a power bar or two in hand. He was a bit slower than usual with having to work around the tender burns lacing his arm. Shoving a power bar almost whole in his mouth, he exited his house and raced downtown.

After a whole minute of dealing with the infernal zeta-tube program, he finally permitted himself to step inside the booth and be transported all the way to the Cave. Wally had used zeta-tube transportation so often that he was numb to the experience by now. It was really just a blinding flash accompanied by a tickling sensation, and then boom! You were at the Cave or Central City or downtown Happy Harbor or wherever you wanted to be.

So he no longer flinched when he opened his eyes to find himself in the Cave. No, he flinched when he opened his eyes to see Artemis's enraged face four inches from his own.

"Where were you, exactly?" she snapped. "We've all been waiting for forever."

"Oh, stop exaggerating," he sneered back, not in the mood to deal with any BS. "It's only been like two minutes." He pushed past her and into the Cave.

"Oh, so that's okay then," she called from behind him, "After all, of course _you're _the only one who's tired, is that right? Newsflash, _Kidiot. _We all are."

"Maybe we're all tired, but you're the only one on your period here, blondie," he returned with breezy confidence, but made sure to keep the hell out of the way of her fists.

"Team." Batman's cold and demanding voice had the power to stop even Wally and Artemis's squabbling. They came to attention, standing beside the rest of their teammates even while bitterly shooting looks that could kill to each other. Dick rolled his eyes and Wally could have sworn that Kaldur sighed, but when he caught M'gann's face, he halted all his hatred towards Artemis.

She had obviously not been consoled at all in the few hours they had been apart. This was a tragedy, a godforsaken tragedy. There were barely dry tear tracks lining her face, and her green skin was as ashen as Wally had ever seen it. She refused to look at him or Conner or Batman or anything else but the wall for that matter.

Conner did not look the best either, but he still looked better than M'gann. He stood stoically, legs apart and arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows drawn together over stormy blue eyes. He and M'gann were on opposite ends of the team's line-up, and Conner also refused to look in M'gann's direction.

Okay, maybe he couldn't help Conner, but who was he not to rescue a damsel in distress?

After the briefing, which was something about extra training on stealth techniques, Wally cornered M'gann while the rest of the team stood around awkwardly. Suavely, he leaned against the wall, trying his best to be simultaneously casual and sensual. He thought he might've heard Dick stifle a snicker but decided to ignore the little bastard. What did he know? Wally moved in for the kill, deciding Dick could stand to learn a few of his tricks.

"Sooo…" he began, thinking _Why do all my conversations start out like this? _"What's troubling you, green cheeks?"

M'gann averted her tearful gaze. Wally could practically see his own reflection in her eyes, which were almost overflowing. It was time for her to see the light, or rather, his blinding smile. He bestowed this great honor upon her, only for her not to even notice. Feeling a little offended, he pressed further. "C'mon, you've been sad all day. That's no way to be."

She finally spoke, her voice soft and somewhat shaky. "I'm fine, Wally. Really."

He switched his position on the wall, trying to find something that looked easy and cool but didn't hurt his injured arm. After shuffling around for a few moments, squirming against the wall, he reasserted his bravado with only a few laughs at his expense, primarily from Robin the Boy Dork. What did he know about flirting, honestly? He was like, eleven. Wally was _way _more knowledgeable about this kind of stuff.

Lowering his voice to a husky murmur, he tried again. "Not by the frown curving your pretty face. What's wrong? Come on, you can tell me anything."

M'gann wiped away a tear threatening to fall and sniffled, just enough that Wally's heart swelled in sympathy. "It's nothing, really. Nothing…"

Wally only moved closer, hoping to console M'gann with maybe a pat on the back or something. Baby steps first and all that. So he was _extremely _surprised when M'gann practically leaped on him in a bone-crushing, rib-squeezing hug that he was sure destroyed a few internal organs. She sobbed a bit, hiccupped twice, and buried her face in his shoulder. Here Wally attempted the pat on that back, and feeling equal parts shock and smug triumph, allowed her to steer him outside the Cave and into the kitchen. He could feel Conner's sudden anger and Artemis and Dick's gaping astonishment follow their backs, but he didn't register it until much later.

^S^

Dick, for the first time in what had to have been years, couldn't think of a single quip to say. He felt his jaw go slack as M'gann _dragged _Wally out of the room. Could this be the result of the extra drugs he'd taken to counteract the pain in his ankle? Dick knew no other alternative. He'd heard Wally, they all had; his usual sleazy charm was NOT that appealing and Dick couldn't think of any way M'gann would be attracted to it. Not that Wally was a bad guy or anything, he was the exact opposite; he was a fantastic guy, a bro for life, but the guy did not have a lot of emotional maturity. This looked like a disaster waiting to happen.

Conner was sending a wary, tight-eyed glare towards the kitchen. Gulping slightly, Dick thought that getting into his line of sight was probably not a good idea for his health. He turned to Artemis, ready to express his thoughts on the entire matter, only to find that she and Kaldur had done the smart thing and were long gone. Dick decided that that was a fine idea and scuttled out of the room in search of something to do, preferably something that meant avoiding the love triangle festering between Conner and M'gann and Wally. _What has Wally done?_ Dick thought. He shrugged and continued on his merry way.

^S^

Meanwhile, Wally was getting a king's treatment.

He leaned against the kitchen counter, pleased, as M'gann fussed over him; offering cookies and apologies for her breakdown. She made herself busy, dumping a bag of chocolate chips in a bowl of batter and mixing it in, making sure it was nice and even before she stuck a spoon in the bowl and began placing doughy lumps on a greased tray. When she was done, she even offered him the spoon, which he gratefully accepted because he hadn't had food in like, thirty minutes. Wally decided that the remnants of cookie dough on the spoon tasted so much better than any waffles could compare to.

When he was done, he tossed the spoon in the sink and snuck a little closer to M'gann. By now, she was silent, having finished her quiet and sincere apologies. She shoved the tray into the oven, shut the oven door, and turned a dial. She turned away, towards him, and threw her arms around his neck once more.

"Thank you," she mumbled, "You don't have any idea how much you've helped me."

"No problem," he replied, a little uneasily. He didn't know where this was going, but the anticipation was chewing up his stomach and spitting out butterflies. He tenderly returned her embrace, letting his hands settle in the small of her back. She looked up at him, eyes shining with a different sort of emotion, one Wally recognized as…as happiness? He couldn't be sure. She suddenly smiled dreamily and leaned into his chest. "No, really, Wally. _Thank you." _

He felt himself stiffen, mentally slapped himself for being such a wuss, and made himself hold onto her tight. She snuggled into his chest, and neither of them noticed when the oven started leaking smoke.

But Wally definitely noticed when M'gann reached up to kiss him. _Oh, he noticed. _

^S^

_End of Part 1/3_

_Hope you enjoyed. _


End file.
